During their time in WCW together, Diamond Dallas Page developed a special relationship with “The American Dream” Dusty Rhodes. He refers to Dream as a big brother figure and a mentor as part of his A&E “Biography: WWE Legends” episode. And because of that bond, he also developed a close relationship with the Grandson of a Plumber, Cody Rhodes, early on.
Page followed the younger Rhodes’ journey from playing football to reaching great heights in high school wrestling, and eventually making his way to professional wrestling. Rhodes’ path to the top has been well documented, from struggling to find his footing in WWE, leaving for the independent scene, helping launch AEW, and eventually returning to a main event spot in WWE.
“He left because no one saw him here. But he did, and he knew I did,” Page tells Uproxx Sports. “I’ve seen him up there — it’s the only spot I ever saw and no one else saw it. So he left and he proved he was right.”
After Rhodes’ return back to WWE two years ago at WrestleMania 38, the “American Nightmare” has continued to cross new barriers in his superstardom. After tearing his pectoral muscle, he recovered in time for the Royal Rumble, and appeared on track to ending Roman Reigns’ historic Undisputed WWE Universal Championship reign at WrestleMania 39.
Instead, he took the loss on a pinfall to Reigns and spent much of 2023 in side quest feuds with the likes of Brock Lesnar, The Judgement Day, and Shinsuke Nakamura. At the same time, we watched as the Bloodline story unfolded, with Jey Uso leaving the faction to go out on his own, a WrestleMania match developing between the Uso brothers, and The Rock returning in a significant capacity.
Losing to Reigns at WrestleMania 39, Page says, has allowed Rhodes to build momentum and has made the chase to finishing his story even better than it could have been otherwise.
“If he would have won at WrestleMania last year, I don’t think he’d be anywhere near as over as he is right now,” Page continues. “You learn from losing. What’s the positive side of this? Oh, millions of people that might even been on the fence are now so pro-Cody, for The Rock to be involved, Roman Reigns, he’s the man and he’s had that world title for so long. The Rock is on different level than all of us because he’s the biggest star in the world.”
At a time when any misstep could completely derail things, the story has reached what many assume is the end of this chapter while at the perfect intersection of wrestling being as hot as ever. WWE has correctly pivoted to keeping things moving in the direction this story seemed destined to go, with Rhodes and Seth Rollins slated to face off against The Rock and Roman Reigns on Night 1 of WrestleMania on Saturday, while Rhodes will wrestle Reigns for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship on Night 2 of WrestleMania.
“This is the most interesting time in professional wrestling. It reminds me so much of the late nineties. I mean, wrestling was so hot,” Page says.
“There’s so many different platforms now, you can’t really see it in the ratings, but it’s the hottest it may have ever been right now. And the storylines of WWE have gone back to reality based. That’s when wrestling works on a different level. You blur the lines so you don’t know what’s real or what’s predetermined. And that’s the beauty of the business in general.”
